The humanitarian and economic impact of natural disasters such as earthquakes and extreme adverse weather conditions such as high winds is becoming of increasing concern to many nations, the recent devastation in Central America being a particular example. Apart from the damage caused to structures, such as bridges and buildings being extremely expensive to repair, the danger to human life brought about by the collapse of such structures means that stronger materials and better methods of construction are increasingly being used.
Unfortunately, however, many of the areas frequently affected by natural disasters are often poor and the costs of materials and improved construction is usually prohibitive. Furthermore, the quantity of raw materials necessary to produce the volume of housing required, could cause a negative impact on the environment, firstly due to the depletion of the raw materials and secondly due to the method of production of the final material which method can be energy intensive. Moreover, a primary consideration following a large scale disaster is that any new buildings erected, should be erected as rapidly as possible. Again, with conventional materials of construction this is not usually done as rapidly as desired, which increases the misery and suffering of the victims. It is also worthy of consideration that, following a large disaster, there will most likely be insufficient skilled labour available to carry out the construction required. There is therefore a need for the rapid deployment of the means to facilitate the construction of buildings which can be constructed using predominantly unskilled labour.
A further and more general problem when constructing a large number of buildings is the provision, at the construction site of the elements needed to carry out the building work. This includes, typically, not just brick, steel, sand or wood for example, but also the means for producing concrete, mortar and correctly forming walls, window frames to the correct size. Such preparation of materials requires a great deal of time which is not always desirable either from an economic or a humanitarian standpoint. Furthermore, commonly used materials, particularly steel and wood are prone to degradation such as rusting or rot. Wood also can be subject to insect and mould attack which reduces its mechanical strength.
It is therefore desirable to develop new materials from which the constructional elements of a house such as the walls and roof can be made. Such new materials must be durable and also able to withstand extremes of wind and temperature.
It is an object of the present invention to provide low cost and easily constructable modular housing which is capable of withstanding extreme weather conditions or even earthquakes.
It is a further object of the invention to utilise available materials to provide composite materials for use in the construction of modular housing which can be produced at minimal impact to the environment.
It is a yet further object of the invention to provide constructional elements which can be rapidly formed and deployed when constructing a building.